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6.931 Development of Inventions and Creative Ideas

Spring 2008

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6.931 DEVELOPMENT OF INVENTIONS AND CREATIVE IDEAS MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING SPRING 2007
Assignment 1 Date Assigned: February 12, 2007 Due: February 20, 2007 As we discussed in class on Monday, this course is an opportunity for you to add your own unique perspectives on the inventive and creative process to your learning experience and those of your colleagues. As such, we will begin the foundation building process for 6.931 in this assignment. Please remember that there is no class on Monday due to the Presidents Day Holiday. We will meet on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 7 PM. All homework assignments are due to the TAs by 7:30PM. Please include your name and email address on all assignment submissions. Reading(s): A. Read the material covered in Create or Perish Chapters 1-3. This information is made available from the course website on OCW listed in your syllabus. Be prepared to discuss: 1) The Origin and Development of the American Patents System 2) The Role of the Patent Office and the Courts 3) The Patent Law Recall that all of these chapters are taken in the context that Prof. Rines provided for you in the first lecture. B. Read the text of House of Representatives Bill 34 (H.R. 34) and be prepared to discuss the salient points of this bill as outlined in lecture 1. Provide a brief, one-two paragraph summary of your understanding of what the bill proposes and the significance of the proposed items in the context of your developing understanding of the patent system. Article Review: Find an article in a recent periodical of your choosing which relates to the patent system. Provide the citation of the article (according to the rules of the APA 5th Edition or later) and a brief article review. Summarize in no more than one page your rationale for choosing the article, the issues that are under discussion in the article, and your insights on the significance or contribution that this article brought to your developing understanding of the intellectual property system (particularly patents) in the United States.